A Perfect Mistake by Zoe Dawson Page A

happened.”
    “No?”
Brax said. “It’s just a matter of time, huckleberry. I
saw the way you were looking at her, and it wasn’t like she was
any Florence Nightingale. Maybe you should fuck her and get her outta
your system?”
    I don’t know
what came over me, but instantaneous anger surged through me. I
lunged at Braxton and hit him so hard in the jaw that he crashed into
my guitar stand and broke my acoustic guitar into tiny wooden bits.
    He came up off the
floor and smashed into me. Elbowed my mouth, and smashed my lip
against my teeth, splitting it. Blood filled my mouth. He wrestled me
to the floor and started whaling on me. I didn’t even fight
back. I don’t know why.
    Booker pulled him
off, but I just lay there.
    “What the
fuck, Boone? This isn’t like you,” Booker said.
    “You son of a
bitch,” Braxton said, pacing, his fists clenched. “Why
did you do that?”
    Breathing hard, I
looked him firmly in his wounded eyes. “Don’t. Talk.
About. Verity. Like. That. Again.”
    “Geezus,”
Booker said. He put his hand on Brax’s shoulder and squeezed.
“Brax. Why don’t you head on out?”
    Brax walked over to
the fridge and got an ice pack out of the freezer. He tossed it to me
as I sat up, his eyes going over my face. I must have looked like a
complete mess.
    “Dammit,
Boone. Fucking A.” He looked towards the dining room and my
smashed, guitar and his mouth tightened. Giving me one more
emotion-packed look, he left.
    Booker offered his
hand and pulled me up. My head was pounding again, and as soon as I
was on my feet, I bent over and coughed like my lungs were coming up.
My stomach lurched and I said, “Oh, shit.” Then I ran for
the bathroom.
    Once inside, I
collapsed to the floor and emptied my stomach into the bowl. With a
groan, I dropped back against the wall, totally wrung out. Booker
loomed in the bathroom doorframe.
    “Boone, what
is really going on with Verity?”
    “I don’t
fucking know everything. That’s why I need to talk to her. But
something happened.” I swallowed the bile that rose in my
throat. “I need to talk to her and get it out in the open.”
    “This is about
last year at the graduation party?”
    “Yes,
according to her.”
    “What happened
at the party?”
    “Fuck me. I’m
not sure. I passed out, blacked out. You remember what I was like
back then. Fucking screw-up. And, now it’s come back to haunt
me.”
    Booker came into the
bathroom and squatted down. “Boone, no matter what happens, no
matter what Verity says or does or didn’t do. Whatever. Brax
and I will have your back. Don’t ignore my phone calls again.
You fucking idiot. I was worried. Brax was worried. Aubree was
worried. Our radar had been going off all damn day.” He
swallowed, hard.
    “And then you
didn’t show up to bartend. I know you’re not that same
guy you were last year. Brax and I know that. You’re our
brother, and nothing you do will ever be bad enough that we wouldn’t
stand by you. Clear, you asshole?”
    I closed my eyes. “I
feel like shit, Book. I’m sorry I made you worry, but you know
what it’s like to have a girl mess you up. Like really mess you
up.”
    “Yes,”
Aubree said, from the doorframe. “He does.”
    I met her eyes. “Is
she okay? Tell me she’s okay, Breebree.”
    “She’s
freaked. She refused to talk to me. Told me to leave her the hell
alone and rushed into the house, where her parents then descended on
her like a load of bricks. So Verity has her hands full right now.
Her daddy was livid.”
    “Geezus.”
    “Look, we’re
sorry, too. We were worried, and we came barging in here thinking
something bad had happened to you. It was completely unfortunate that
we saw you…oh shit. Well, you know. It’s embarrassing.
For all of us, but let me just say that you have a fine ass.”
    I groaned. “It’s
really not fair to tease me right now, Breebree.”
    “Hey, if she’s
seen one, she’s seen all three identical asses.”
    “Yes,